Just an average girl
by JezebelKanda
Summary: A non-crossdressing, non-clubfan, non-special girl with the club in Boston.
1. Chapter 1

The Boston air caressed the cheeks of the seven ex-hosts. The pleasant chatter of the college campus made a sweet backdrop as they stared out at the serenity. They'd all finally taken a break from studying for a final and they were happy to say, it was doing them some good.

"Ah!" said Hani, jumping up, "I'll get us some snacks!" The twins stood followed by the rest of the club.

"We'll go."

"Yeah, it was getting boring just sitting there." Harhi smiled at her friends and their impatience. The little group set off down the cobbled street, aiming for their favorite bakery. Chio's was a really cute place with enough unique sweets to remain Hani's favorite since their arrival. Hani and Mori, at the front of their group stopped suddenly and Tamaki ran into them.

"What's the hold up?" asked the twins, rubbing their identical heads.

"Ren-chan!" cried Hani bowing low to a girl who had drooped a pastel blue box when she turned. The ex-hosts, being ex-hosts, immediately studied her. Just past shoulder length light-brown hair, light blue eyes, small nose, pouty lips, glasses, and wearing a white see-through blouse over a white tank, blue skirt with tiny sparse white polka dots, and dainty high heels, she looked like a lady. She blushed a little and bent to pick the box up.

She bowed back with a tiny smile. "Haninozuka-sensei, Morinozuka-sensei, hello." Hani jumped on her, hugging her tightly.

"What are you doing in Boston, Re-chan?" Hani asked, jumping off of her. "I thought you were still attending Ouran."

"Technically, I am. I'm studying abroad while my parents and Will visit Japan." She smiled a little smile. "Mother says they're having fun." She threw the box she had just dropped into a trash can nearby. "Are you here for the pastry shop?" Hani smiled brightly up at her.

"Yup! Takashi and Usa-chan love it here!" Ren smiled at Mori and opened the door for the club.

"It's my favorite too." she said looking past the two college students to the club behind them.

"Oh, Yeah. These are our friends. There's Haru-chan, she's super nice, and Kyo-chan, who's really smart. Then the twins, Hika-chan and Kao-chan, and finally, Tama-chan!" Tamaki stepped forward and grabbed her hand, kissing it and expecting a blush but not getting one. Ren bowed to the club again.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Ren-chan was one of our students a long time ago. She was really good." The minute the greetings were over, Hani wandered off to the baked goodies with Mori in tow. Ren smiled at her sensei. She let the club immerse themselves in choosing out their pastries while she picked out a dozen donuts.

"Ren, are you back already?" asked the cashier who charged her while the club waited patiently for their turn.

"Yeah, I accidentally dropped the other ones just now." The cashier pretended to have a heart attack.

"Ren, THE Ren, ungracefully dropped something?! The world must be ending!" Ren smiled at the cashier and bowed to the club.

"It was a pleasure meeting you here. I hope I get the chance to converse with you some more."

"Bye-bye, Ren-chan!" called Hani, waving after her through the glass door. His sweet face turned dark and he whispered, "I hate them, Takashi." The club's shocked silence made Tamaki tentatively ask.

"Wh-who do you hate, Hani-senpai?" Hani kept his dark face.

"Ren-chan's parents. They're bad guys and Ren is a really good girl." Haruhi, being her untactful self asked why.

"Renata Oppenheimer, Ren-chan, was visiting her aunt and her family when a car hit them. Her aunt and uncle died and Ren-chan's parents took in their nephew, William. But because Ren-chan reminds Will about the accident, they never let Will see Ren-chan. Ren-chan is going to take over their diamond mine business someday but she hasn't seen her parents since she was six. They wanted to give Will a "family life" but they left Ren-chan to the maids and nannies. Once, her dad told her Will was more important. See, Ren-chan's dad was in love with Will's mom, Ren-chan's mom's older twin. When She rejected him, he married Ren-chan's mom. When Will's mom died, Ren-chan's mom saw the chance to get her husband to like her more and took in Will to help. Ren-chan got thrown aside though."

Tamaki and the twins were in tears Hani went back to looking like his sweet self. "Ren-chan's really sweet though. She makes great cakes, right, Takashi?" Mori nodded silently. But Kyoya and Haruhi weren't paying attention. Kyoya was trying to remember what he knew about the Oppenheimers and Ren, and Haruhi was thinking about how sad the whole thing was.

"But we got our snacks! Let's go back to our seats!" Haruhi shook her head.

"Break's over, we have to study for the final."

"Awwwww, but Haru-chan!" The twins clung to each other, crying frantically.

"Hikaru! Haru-chan won't let me rest!"

"I know Kaoru! Haru-chan is evil!"

"Don't call my darling evil!"

Ren walked back to her family's townhome, smiling gently at having seen Haninozuka and Morinozuka. They had both been very sweet to her when they were her teachers. She stopped and looked up at her house, noting the lacy curtains left to dance in the wind of the open windows and the quiet sound of John (her butler) playing the piano. A soft ache in her chest made her stare up at the sky intently. Once it was gone, she went into the house.

"John, I brought pastries." She smiled at the soft blue walls and the maid who came to take the pastries.

The house felt oddly chilly, though the sun shone through the open windows and it was necessary to wear shorts and skirts. Ren walked through the house in a sort of daze, noting the lack of family photos and memories. She sat in a fluffy chair near a window.

Maybe, someday, friends and family would fill those empty halls. Maybe...

It was already eight when John woke her up. She immediately panicked and spent the rest of the night studying. At that time, the music from his piano, music she had heard every day since the age of six, and the clatter of the plates the maid, Jamie, a clatter that had also been in her life for a very long time combined with her furious rustling of paper and gave the house a lively sound her heart couldn't hear.

**AN: AHHHHH, what should I do?! I have like six stories going at once and I have serious writer's block in some of them but then this ridiculous story comes along and keeps lurking until I write it down and won't leave until I publish it but by the...like sixth chapter I'll get writer's block on it and have to start another one! I'm slowly but surely going insane.. My cousin says it's just me under a lot of stress but I'm sure I'm just crazy and useless... wahh.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: HI. I've been watching Golden Hour/ Golden Time. Ever heard of it?**

On Sunday, Ren awoke to the scent of waffles. She knew they were waffles and not pancakes because Jamie only ever made apple waffles. She lay on her bed, enjoying the feeling of the cold sheets (she left all of her windows open during summer and spring nights) and the soft bed in the sunlight.

A soft knock at her door and John's voice called her back to reality. "Breakfast is ready Miss Renata." She sat up and rolled her head around a bit. Ren swung her legs over the edge of the bed and tiptoed, trying to find her slippers. She pulled her robe over her pajamas and looked in her vanity mirror. Her curly wavy hair was just a little bit messy, and her eyes looked a little red from lack of sleep.

It took her ten minutes to shower and change. She came downstairs in white button-down blouse tucked into a waist high mint green pleated skirt, strappy black heels alerting the group at her dining table.

"Ren-chan!" cried Honey, throwing himself at Ren. Her left foot slid back just in time to brace for Honey's extra weight. Honey smiled at her slightly quizzical gaze. "Tama-chan said we should go see the Empire State Building. I want you to go with us. Please, Ren-chan?" Puppy eyes were shot at her and she looked to the table again. Morinozuka-sensei stared back at her, accompanied by the glasses wearing guy from Friday. The red-headed twins, the blonde, and the girl weren't there.

"Good morning Haninozuka-sensei, Morinozuka-sensei," she turned to Kyoya with a smile, "I'm sorry, I don't know your name." He returned her carefully polite smile.

"I'm Ohtori Kyoya." She remembered meeting Yoshio Ohtori and having heard his youngest son was her age. Ren let her gaze wander. He was much more handsome than either of his elder brothers.

"_Please, _Ren-chan, will you come with us?" Ren smiled at the short college student.

"I'll ask John if I have anything planned." She hoped she did have something, she didn't want to be forcefully included. John, the traitor, smiled when Honey asked and proudly announced that Miss Renata was free for the day. He ignored the subtle glare she sent him and set his pitcher of coconut water **(juice? Milk? What is it called, anyone know?)** down on the table.

That was how Ren found herself standing between Mori and Kyoya, glaring at the girls who kept shooting her envious glances. After the Empire State Building, they'd been to see the giant Lincoln statue, and then their current location, the Washington monument. The Suoh heir was pointing buildings out to the girl (who Ren found out was called Haruhi), the twins were messing about, Honey was spazzing out and being coddled by an old couple. Only Ren and her companions stood quietly by.

"The tall one is definitely sexier."

"Yeah but the one with glasses has that gentle quality. I bet he's the gentleman type."

"Have you two seen the twins though?" and on it went, the running commentary the group of British teenagers behind them had started the minute they had sighted them. Ren felt a headache starting. She was hungry and tired but Suoh refused to stop at a restaurant until Haruhi had seen some of the most, quote "amazing sights that the beautiful land known as the United States has to offer".

"I wonder if that girl is dating any of them." said one. Ren listened in, ignoring her rapidly growing headache.

"Who knows, she doesn't look like any of them."

"Who wears heels that tall? Is she a slut?" Renata colored. Her heels were barely three inches tall and her skirt was just short of knee length. If she weren't wearing them, she'd be about as short as Honey. Her headache throbbed and she closed her eyes, taking a slow breath.

Mori placed a hand on her small shoulder and Kyoya went to convince (aka force) Tamaki to let them go to a restaurant. As they were leaving, one of the girls, a blonde with a smattering of freckles, gave him her number.

"I'm very sorry but I don't spend time with little girls, only ladies." and Kyoya handed the slip of paper back and continued escorting Tamaki and Haruhi out of the monument, ignoring the outraged gasp behind them.

"That was..." Renata faltered, trying to find the correct word.

"Deserved." said Mori nodding encouragingly at Kyoya.

"You are a lady and worth much more, morally, than any of them." Kyoya said, gazing out of the car's tinted windows. "Besides, it's time for lunch anyway. Perhaps you'd know of a place?" It was a subtle change of subject and Ren had to smile. They were sweet.

It was a small, crowded place, a hole in the wall by any definition but it was clean and smelled wonderful. The club had looked surprised, and Ren just knew they were thinking it was a strange place for a heiress. There was no one to seat them so Ren took charge. When a harassed looking waitress finally came over, it was Ren who ordered.

"We'll have the Presidential party platter and two extra orders of caramel popcorn with two pitchers of lemonade, one unsweetened."

"This better be good." said one of the twins, sizing her up. Ren smiled a challenge at the twins, daring them to find a fault within her. It was her pride, she was perfect in every way conceivable. Her way of dressing was just the right amount of feminine and professional. Her behavior was moderate enough, polite at all times and feminine. None of the piercings she had sported when younger remained, save the two in her earlobes. Her tattoos removed through a series of lazer treatments, her skin was good enough to not need makeup. She wasn't beautiful, she knew, but she didn't need to be.

Taking his opportunity when the food arrived, the red head leaned in. "Too bland and much too fake." Ren's smile never faltered though her heart gave a beat. They were the first, as far as she knew, to notice and definitely the first to say anything.

The food was amazing. It was nothing like they were accustomed to, Haruhi being a normal Japanese girl and the club being spoiled rich boys. This was classic American food, made by proudly classic American chefs. Even the biscuits, with their buttery golden softness couldn't be replicated by a chain restaurant. And one of the things she loved most about this place, not only was the food light unlike most southern food places, but they served fresh caramel popcorn all the time. She didn't say much, just watched the club as she munched on an order of the tiny caramelly goodness.

"Alright, you win, this is very good." said one of the twins, the one who hadn't spoken to her yet. "How did you find this place?"

"One of my father's bodyguards recommended it when he found out I'd be staying nearby. His uncle runs the place." She didn't mention that she had given the man the loan he needed to get it off the ground when she had spent a summer with her father's bodyguard in Tennessee or that she knew him as Uncle Rick and he'd taught her to ride her first bike at age nine. She realized Kyoya was watching her and smiled at him politely.

She knew he knew, and she knew neither would say anything. It was something she had realized as she'd spent the entire day exchanging messages with her informats. They were two sides of the same coin. The forgotten heiress and the never forgotten third son both working to be recognized by their families.

It was just before her self imposed bedtime, when she arrived back at her home, a thick envelope of pictures in her hand. They were polaroids, taken by the suddenly friendly twins throughout the day. She smiled as she looked though them before she turned off the lights. She almost looked like she was one of them, part of that group of friends. Here she was smiling, moving her caramel popcorn out of Honey's reach, there she was, smiling at Tamaki as he leaned over the rails on a ferry. There was one of Haruhi and Ren talking, and one of Mori lifting her and Honey over the crowd to look at an automaton.

It had been nice, she decided.


End file.
